CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG: Meghalaya Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) BDR Tiwari on Tuesday directed Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to strictly follow the Election Commission's house-to-house verification process under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, stating that Enumeration Forms must be delivered directly to electors at their residences.
The clarification followed allegations that forms had been distributed from the residence of a former legislator in Mawprem under the West Shillong Assembly constituency. Tiwari said BLOs must make three consecutive visits if an elector is unavailable and paste the form at the residence only after recording the visits. He added that forms could be distributed at polling stations or common community places only to facilitate electors, but not from private residences.
Earlier, East Khasi Hills District Election Officer Abhilash Baranwal directed the retrieval of forms distributed from the former legislator's residence and instructed officials to resume door-to-door distribution in accordance with Election Commission guidelines.
Reviewing the revision exercise, Tiwari said 19,91,883 Enumeration Forms had been distributed across the state, while 5,64,610 forms, accounting for 24.03% of the electorate, had been digitised. He attributed the slower pace of digitisation to network connectivity issues during the monsoon and expressed confidence that East Khasi Hills would complete the exercise within the prescribed timeline.